Method and system for managing and retrieving data

ABSTRACT

A method and a system for managing and retrieving data within an electronic mail editor and/or an application external of the electronic mail editor are provided. In conventional systems, a user needs to sieve through their e-mail messages to locate messages of a same subject and thereafter to identify a most current or his required information. In the present invention, a reference data tag is inserted in an e-mail message and is linked to tag values stored in an appropriate database. The data tag may have one or more instances inserted in other messages at different times and assigned a different data tag value at the time of insertion. The data tag may be represented by similar indicia. To retrieve a most current value among the different values, a user merely accesses any of the indicia in any of the messages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention.

[0002] The present invention relates to data retrieval systems. Moreparticularly, it relates to a method and a system for managing andretrieving data within an electronic mail editor and/or an applicationexternal of the electronic mail editor.

[0003] 2. Description of Background Information.

[0004] Business information is increasingly communicated by means ofelectronic mail (hereinafter “e-mail”). This communication ofinformation may relate to business critical issues and may span overnumerous e-mail messages over a time period. Generally, e-mail usersretain most messages because the messages contain developments, updates,attachment files and history of responses pertaining to a subject.

[0005] Often, an e-mail user would still refer to less recent messageson a same subject to locate specific information, or to followdevelopments on the subject, or to forward a most current information toanother user. Such information may include timelines, meeting details,particulars of customers and change requests on software release. Tolocate certain information on a subject, a user may sort messagesaccording to subject heading or sender. Thereafter, he identifiesrelevant messages and accesses the messages separately. Since e-mailmessages usually comprise of free-form text, the user may have to readthe message contents of several messages in detail before locating theinformation he requires. Further, since contents of e-mail messages arestatic, contents of less recent messages may reflect outdatedinformation. Hence, the user may need to compare information between twoor more messages to identify the most up-to-date information.

[0006] In existing e-mail editors, a user generally locates informationusing the above-described method. Although most users have accustomed tousing this method, it is tedious to repeat this time-consuming procedureeach time a user wishes to locate a piece of information. Furthermore, auser may, due to oversight or urgency of time, incorrectly identify therequired or most current information. Accordingly, a method and a systemfor managing and retrieving information are needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The present invention provides a method of managing andretrieving data within an electronic mail editor and/or an applicationexternal of the electronic mail editor.

[0008] A user first inserts a reference data tag (hereinafter “datatag”) in a message body section when he is composing a message. The useralso assigns a current value to the data tag and selects a database tostore the data tag and its value (hereinafter “tag-value pair). The datatag may be reassigned new values when necessary. The data tag may bedisplayed as an indicium in the message. The data tag may have one ormore instances inserted in other messages at different times. The otherinstances may be represented by similar indicia and assigned differentdata tag values at the time of insertion. A recipient user or a group ofrecipient users may access the indicium in any of the messagescontaining the data tag for retrieving a most current value among thedifferent values.

[0009] According to another aspect of the invention, the user may alsoretrieve two or more data tag values which have been assigned to thedata tag over a period of time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The present invention will be described with reference todrawings, in which:

[0011]FIG. 1 is a flow sequence describing the operation of the presentinvention.

[0012]FIG. 2A illustrates a pop-up window for creating a new data tag.

[0013]FIG. 2B illustrates a pop-up window for inserting an existing datatag.

[0014]FIG. 3 illustrates typical relationships among personal, local andglobal databases.

[0015]FIG. 4 illustrates an e-mail message containing data tags

[0016]FIG. 5 illustrates an e-mail message containing data tags, where acursor is positioned over a data tag for displaying a most current tagvalue.

[0017]FIG. 6 illustrates a pop-up window for retrieving information on adata tag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] The present invention provides a method and system for managingand retrieving information within an e-mail editor and/or an applicationexternal of the e-mail editor. It allows a user fast access to mostcurrent information on a subject without requiring him to read theentire contents of one or more messages before locating the requiredinformation. In order to do this, a sender of a message first inserts areference data tag in a message when he is composing the message. Hethen assigns a current value to the data tag and may also select anappropriate database for storing the data tag-value pair. The data tagmay be embedded in the body section of a message and displayed as anindicium. The data tag may be later assigned other more current values.The indicium may be accessed to retrieve a most current value of thedata tag from the appropriate database. Hence, even if a user is readinga less recent message, he is able to retrieve up-to-date informationquickly. The present invention also allows the user to retrieve ahistory of tag values should he require such information. Thus, with theinvention, it is now not necessarily for the user to locate a mostrecent message on a subject or read several messages in order to locateup-to-date information on the subject. The insertion and update of datatags, and the retrieval of data tag values from the databases areenabled by making Application Program Interface (API) calls.

[0019] Reference is now made to a flow sequence 100 in FIG. 1, whichdescribes the operation of the present invention.

[0020] The flow sequence 100 starts in a COMPOSE E-MAIL MESSAGE step101, where a sender composes a new message in an e-mail editor, such asMicrosoft Outlook. In a manner known in the art, the sender alsospecifies the addresses of recipients and prepares a message bodytypically containing free form text, i.e., text sequences organized intoparagraphs.

[0021] According to the present invention, the user may insert a datatag at any desired position within the message body section in an INSERTDATA TAG step 102. The user can insert a data tag using one of severalways, for example, by selecting a menu option from a pull-down menu orby right-clicking on a cursor positioning device for displaying menuoptions for the user's selection. Thereafter, the user may be promptedto define settings for the data tag in a DEFINE SETTINGS FOR DATA TAGstep 103. The user may create a new data tag and assign it a value, orinsert an existing data tag and modify its value, or insert an existingdata tag without modifying its value. According to whether the userchooses to insert an existing data tag or a new data tag, the user maybe presented with an appropriate window, such as those illustrated inFIG. 2A and 2B. FIG. 2A shows a pop-up window for creating new datatags, where the user specifies a new data tag name, assigns a tag valueand selects a database for storing the new data tag. FIG. 2B shows apop-up window for selecting a data tag from existing data tags. It mayalso allow a user to modify the tag value of a selected data tag. When adata tag value has been modified, an API call is made to store the newlymodified data tag-value pair in the appropriate database.

[0022] In the present invention, the database is generally one ofpersonal database, local organization database and global organizationdatabase. The relationships among these databases are illustrated inFIG. 3. A personal database 330 a, 330 b, 330 c, 330 d generally refersto a database that is accessible only by a user, though it may sometimesbe accessed or shared with a few other users who have been granted suchpermissions. Local organization database 302 generally refers to ashared database that enables a small group of users typically in a samegeography, to access it. Global organization database 310 generallyrefers to shared database that is accessible by a larger group of userstypically from different geographies 302, 304, 306, for example,employees of a multinational corporation.

[0023] After the DEFINE SETTINGS FOR DATA TAG step 103, the data tag isinserted in the message and displayed as an indicium in a DISPLAYINDICIUM FOR DATA TAG step 104. The indicium is typically arranged atthe cursor position where the user had initiated the insertion of thedata tag, as shown in FIG. 4. The indicium may be in the form of an iconor highlighted text or the like. The current value of the data tag mayalso be retrieved from the database and displayed when a cursor isplaced over it. When the sender has composed the message and initiatedan action to send the message, the message is transmitted as known inthe art in a TRANSMIT E-MAIL MESSAGE step 105 of FIG. 1. The data tagembedded in the message body is represented as Hyper Text Marked-upLanguage (HTML) tags to indicate that it is a tag-value pair instead ofplain text.

[0024] At the recipient's end, the message containing the data tag isreceived and read by the recipient in a RECEIVE AND READ MESSAGE step106. If the e-mail viewer of the recipient is data tag-value enabled,the data tag and value are displayed as an indicium 402, 404 asillustrated in FIG. 4. The indicium 402, 404 may be accessed to retrieveits respective most current value from the database. If the e-mailviewer of the recipient is not data tagvalue enabled, the user-specifiedvalue of the data tag is displayed as text which describes the valuespecified by the sender.

[0025] If the sender has stored the data tag in his personal database,or if the sender has stored the data tag in a local organizationdatabase to which the recipient is not a member, the data tag is, atthis point, not yet stored in any database accessible to the recipient.In order to retrieve the data tag-value pair at a later time, it isnecessary for the recipient to store the data tag to his personaldatabase or a local or global organization database in a STORE DATA TAGVALUE PAIR step 107. If the data tag already exists in the selecteddatabase, the recipient may also be accorded permission to overwriteexisting data tag value. Alternatively, the sender may select adifferent database for storing the data tag-value pair. However, if thesender has stored the data tag in a local organization or globalorganization database accessible to the recipient, it is not necessaryfor the recipient to store it again.

[0026] The above-mentioned databases may be implemented in LightweightDirectory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Relational Database ManagementSystem (RDBMS) format as known in the art, for accessing the database inthe organization network. The databases may contain information on datatag name, a history of data tag values, date of creating each data tag,creator of the data tag, date of last modification of data tag andpermission information. The databases may be indexed in any standardindexing mechanism such as Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM),binary tree, hash or the like for organizing and retrieving data.

[0027] When a data tag-value pair is created, it is accessible toauthorized users of the database in which the data tag-value pair isstored in an ACCESS DATA TAG VALUE PAIR step 108. Preferably, the datatag-value pair is accessed from the e-mail editor, such as, (1) byplacing a cursor over an indicium 402, 404 in the message body toretrieve a tag value (see FIG. 5) or (2) by providing a window to selectand retrieve a tag value (see FIG. 6) or the like. The retrieval of datatag values are enabled by making API calls to access an appropriatedatabase. The former method allows a user to retrieve a current data tagvalue while reading a less recent message in a series of messagesrelating to the subject of the data tag. Referring to FIG. 5, it isnoted that the callout box 406 shows a most current value of a data tag“E-wallet meeting” 402 while the message of FIG. 5 is actually a lessrecent message. In the latter method, a user in the midst of any taskunrelated to the subject of a data tag or in an application external ofthe e-mail editor may easily access a tag value or a most current valueby invoking an appropriate window as shown in FIG. 6 to enter his searchcriteria for retrieving the data tag and its value therefrom. With thismenu option, it is not necessary to locate a message relating to thesubject matter of a data tag and opening the message to access theindicium for retrieving the tag value. It also not necessary to access amost recent message on a subject to retrieve a most current value of adata tag associated with the subject.

[0028] The data tags may have several other instances inserted in othermessages, where the data tags have been assigned different values in themessages. These instances may be represented by similar indicia. Wheneach of these indicia is accessed, the most current value of thedifferent values is retrieved from the database where the data tagvalues are stored. Alternatively, two of more of the different valuesmay be retrieved from the database.

[0029]FIG. 6 illustrates a window which allows a user to search for datatag-value pair by entering an appropriate search criteria in a “Entertag name to search” field 602 or similar fields. Alternatively, the datatag may be accessed by first selecting an appropriate database andsearching among existing data tags for the required tag.

what is claimed is:
 1. A method of managing and retrieving datacomprising: inserting a data tag in a first message, the data tagrepresented by a first indicium; having another instance of the data tagin a second message, the data tag represented by a second indicium;assigning different values to the data tags in the first and the secondmessage; and accessing any of the first indicium or the second indiciumfor retrieving a most current value among the different values.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: storing the data tags and thedifferent values in a database.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: transmitting the message to a plurality of recipients; andenabling the plurality of recipients to access the database.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein accessing the indicium further includesretrieving at least two of the different values.
 5. The method of claim1 further comprising: providing an interface within an electronic maileditor or an application external of the electronic mail editor or bothfor retrieving the most current value.
 6. A system for managing andretrieving data comprising: a data tag inserted in a first message andassigned a first value; another instance of the data tag inserted in asecond message and assigned a second value; and means provided in thefirst and the second message for retrieving a most current value betweenthe first and the second value.
 7. The system of claim 6 furthercomprising: a database for storing and retrieving therefrom the data tagand the first and the second values.
 8. The system of claim 7, whereinthe electronic mail message is transmitted to a plurality of recipients,and the database is accessible to the plurality of recipients.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the means in the first and the second messageis an indicium.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the means in thefirst and the message includes means for retrieving at least the firstand the second value.
 11. The system of claim 6 further comprising:means provided within an electronic mail editor or an applicationexternal of the electronic mail editor or both for retrieving the mostcurrent value.